Society News
(Up and running in 1924 (and apparently earlier!) – RHS affiliated)
Ron Thomas wrote to tell us that as a thank you for many years of enjoyment showing his dahlias at the Bank Holiday show, he had entered a class at the National Dahlia Society Show at R.H.S. Wisley in the name of the Wisborough Green Horticultural Society. The exhibit won first prize and a silver medal from the National Dahlia Society. Huge thanks to Ron for such a lovely gesture.
GardeningTalks to Resume (subject to member support!)
On Monday 6th October the Hort. Soc. is holding its first gardening talk since the society reformed just over 18 months ago. We are very much dipping a toe in the water – if the talk is a success we will start to re-introduce more talks and some garden visits – but we do need your support.
The talk will be given by Mark Saunders, head gardener at Fittleworth House and it is on the subject of “Garden Inspiration“. A visual tour of Britain’s most beautiful gardens, both famous and private, for those seeking creative planning and planting ideas for their own plot. Mark is a walking talking dictionary of gardening knowledge and will be happy to take questions at the end of the talk to try and tackle any of your gardening dilemmas. The talk will start at 7.15 p.m. refreshments will be served and tickets will be available priced at £10 for non members and £5 for members either on the door or in advance from Kate Osborne: e-mail katemosborne@aol.com Tel: 01403 700165. Every ticket will be entered into a draw for a beautiful bouquet of flowers to take home. All details are on the website.
Obviously in order to make the talks viable we do need a certain footfall through the door, this is an experiment and we would love it to be a huge success but we do need your help. Come to the talk if you can, spread the word and help the Society go from strength to strength!
It may be a little early……. but just a reminder that if you would like to make a wreath for your Christmas door – The Hort. Soc. will be repeating last year’s wreath making class. This year’s event will take place at the village hall on the afternoon of Saturday 6th December. Do please save the date! More details to follow……
The Bank Holiday Horticultural and Flower Show
The Show was a great success with the usual stunning array of dahlias and a pumpkin, grown by Karl Sawyer, that was so large that it had to be delivered by fork lift truck . As the truck was unable to enter the village hall the heaviest pumpkin class had to be held in the car park.
It was a tricky Summer for growing flowers with extended periods of drought but the flower section didn’t seem to suffer and the judges said that the produce on display surpassed anything that they had seen at other village shows this Summer – so the proud tradition of Wisborough Green growing continues to thrive!
The children’s entries were also particularly strong with some beautiful flower arrangements based on the colour wheel (tying in with the curriculum at Wisborough Green Primary School).
Winners:
- Linda Hatcher won the Ansell Allotment Cup for her beautifully kept allotment.
- David Stevens won the Top Tray Shield for a collection of three vegetables.
- Karl Sawyer swept the board with the Howell Cup for the most points in the adult classes, the Society Cup for the most points horticulture, the Louise Gilham Memorial Cup for the winner of the Harvest Class and the Naldretts Court Cup for the best collection of vegetables.
- Tom Christopherson won the Bill Mann Memorial Cup for the best exhibit – flowers and the Greatorex Flower Bowl for the most points – flowers.
- Ron Thomas won the Wisborough Green Challenge Cup and the Malham Challenge Cup for his beautiful dahlias and David Halt the Goodchild Cup for the best exhibit horticulture.
- Bill Hammond won the Alan Humphrey Onion Challenge Cup for the best onion or shallot and the Bob Ansell Memorial Cup for the highest combined points in both the June and August shows.
- Chris Wates won the Committee Cup for the most points.
- Wendy Duff won the Floral Cup for flower arranging and Helen Mursell won the Domestic Cup for cookery.
- Evie Farrant won the Children’s Cup for the most points in the junior classes and Daphne Edwardson won the Carol Holt Junior Cup for the highest combined points in the children’s classes for both the June and August Show.
The Committee